Frontrunners for Obama DOJ Positions:
Sources speaking to the BLT are indicating that the following individuals are currently frontrunners for top posts in the Obama Justice Department: Lanny Breuer is likely to be picked as the head of DOJ's Criminal Division; D. Anthony West is likely to be picked as the head of DOJ's Civil Division; Mark Gitenstein is the likely head of the Office of Legal Policy; and Neal Katyal is likely to be picked as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General.
You are correct; by and large, the senior Senator of the president's party has the biggest say in who becomes the US Attorney(s) in his state. There may be some spots - like the SDNY - where that is not necessarily true because of the importance of the cases that are brought there, but for the most part, historically, presidents have deferred to senators on this.
Yes, his representation of Roger Clemens during his congressional testimony was a thing of beauty... Oh wait, it ended up being a public relations disaster and a grand jury has now convened to determine whether Clemens lied under oath.
That doesn't sound very "top-notch" to me at all. In fact, it sounds like quite the opposite.
Because we assume that in electing someone to be the executive of our nation, the supervisory roles of the executive branch should be filled with those he can trust and direct, and not an unaccountable bureaucrat who's risen through the ranks simply by not pissing anyone off.
@Wahoowa: Exactly, by civil servants instead of political hacks. I'd think the many problems in the DoJ in recent years would have cured most people from the idea that what the country needs is more political appointees.
BLT lists Tom Saenz in Civil Rights
• Thomas Saenz, counsel to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, is the leading candidate to head the Civil Rights Division, the sources say. Before joining Villaraigosa’s administration, Saenz (Yale Law) was a top lawyer for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where he handled cases over affirmative action, educational equity, employment discrimination, immigrants' rights, language rights, and day laborers' rights. (Click here for a brief bio from the Equal Justice Society.)
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